Filter maintenance causes false fire alarm and evacuation at Riverside City College

A fire alarm went off in the cafeteria at approximately 1:35 p.m., causing the cafeteria, the Ralph Bradshaw Student Center, the student bookstore and the Student Health and Psychological Services to shut down.

Student and staff were evacuated from the building.

Unique Luna, a cafeteria worker, evacuated the building along with other students when the alarm was set off.

“If it were a false alarm, it would’ve turned off by now,” Luna said.

Luna mentioned that a fire alarm had not been set off since she began working at the cafeteria at the start of the fall 2018 semester. She also mentioned that she had received only brief online training on what to do during such occurrences.

At 2:02 p.m., college officials learned that there was no fire and the cause of the alarm is unknown.

According to Mehran Mohtasham, assistant director of facilities, there is no fire and college officials assessing what had triggered the fire alarm.

The Riverside Community College District’s public information officer, Robert Schmidt, said the alarm went off while staff members were doing general maintenance on the filters.